When you have been posting on Facebook for a while you will be offered the opportunity to “boost” your post. This means it will be seen by many more people than just your usual followers. Increasingly Facebook post are seen by only a fraction of your followers. You cannot assume that even the best posts will be seen by more than 50% of your page followers (and most often it may be only 10% to 20%). So boosting seems an attractive option, right? – No Wrong!

Sponsored Posts (Ads) on Facebook

When you make the decision to pay Facebook to show your ads to more people you have 2 options. You can hit that big “boost” button and see your money trickle away with little effect or you can set up Facebook Business Manager which will give you much more control on who sees your post and a much better chance of running an effective campaign with good results.

Setting up Business Manager is straightforward.

To create a Business Manager:
  1. Go to business.facebook.com/overview.
  2. Click Create Account.
  3. Enter a name for your business, your name and work email address and click Next.
  4. Enter your business details and click Submit.

 

Within Business Manager you can use the Ad Manager tool to create simple or complex, static image or multi-media campaigns for display on Facebook, Instagram and Facebook Messenger. You can target by geographics, demographics and interests of your potential market. You can even create Custom Audiences  based on your Facebook followers or even visitors to your website (if you have the Facebook Pixel installed). You can target “look-alike” audiences of people with similar characteristics to your Facebook followers or website visitors.

 

In summary, you can do so much more with Facebook Business Manager. No matter how tempting that big “boost” button may be, it won’t ever be the most effective way to achieve your marketing goals.

Graeme Boyd
Online Marketing Consultant